Mumbai: A special CBI court citing shoddy probe acquitted eight people including Customs officials 11 years after they were named accused in a case of fraudulent claim of export incentives. CBI special judge SM Mengoge criticised the CBI for acting as a “post office” by merely forwarding documents collected from the Customs Department without conducting an independent investigation. It also noted that the customs mishandled the case by losing original documents and failing to maintain proper custody of seized goods.
The court said that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt due to procedural lapses, including missing original evidence and unsubstantiated claims. The court observed that while there may have been negligence on the part of the accused, there was no concrete evidence of criminal conspiracy or fraudulent intent.
They were accused of conspiring to mis-declare goods and fraudulently claim incentives under Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) scheme. It is an incentive granted to exporters which is credited into a passbook and can be used to offset future duty payments for any imports made. The DEPB license can also be sold in the market.
The case was based on export shipments made in 2008 by two firms—Amreen Impex of Mumbai, led by Asif Ahmed Kachhi, and Nandi Overseas of Sameer Sehgal. Customs Superintendent D.R. Verma, Dawa Injung, and Customs Examiner Suresh Shetty were accused of facilitating the export of mis-declared goods described as rubber strips, which were grossly inflated in terms of weight. The declared weight of 46,600 kg was reportedly much higher than the actual weight of 6,624.35 kg per carton. Investigations showed that the goods were of such poor quality they could not even be sold as scrap. Other accused included Deepak Joshi, a partner at M.D. Shipping Agency, and Ramesh Singh Surajbux, who were allegedly involved in logistics and documentation for the shipments. The initial investigation was carried out by the Customs in 2011. The case was later handed over to the CBI. The CBI failed to provide crucial physical evidence during the trial, including original documents, seized goods, and test reports. The court noted that the prosecution relied heavily on witness statements and secondary evidence, none of which were sufficiently corroborated. Kachhi, one of the businessmen, spent a year in custody before being released in January 2024. Defence counsel Anand Sachwani said that the accused were not part of any conspiracy and that key documents were either misplaced or never seized properly. . Gurmeet Singh Kohli, the alleged mastermind of the fraudulent documentation, passed away before the trial. The defence also contended that Customs officials did not physically inspect the goods, instead relying only on carton markings. Additionally, no evidence was presented to show that samples of the goods were tested or analysed by accredited laboratories.
Mumbai: A special CBI court citing shoddy probe acquitted eight people including Customs officials 11 years after they were named accused in a case of fraudulent claim of export incentives. CBI special judge SM Mengoge criticised the CBI for acting as a “post office” by merely forwarding documents collected from the Customs Department without conducting an independent investigation. It also noted that the customs mishandled the case by losing original documents and failing to maintain proper custody of seized goods.
The court said that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt due to procedural lapses, including missing original evidence and unsubstantiated claims. The court observed that while there may have been negligence on the part of the accused, there was no concrete evidence of criminal conspiracy or fraudulent intent.
They were accused of conspiring to mis-declare goods and fraudulently claim incentives under Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) scheme. It is an incentive granted to exporters which is credited into a passbook and can be used to offset future duty payments for any imports made. The DEPB license can also be sold in the market.
The case was based on export shipments made in 2008 by two firms—Amreen Impex of Mumbai, led by Asif Ahmed Kachhi, and Nandi Overseas of Sameer Sehgal. Customs Superintendent D.R. Verma, Dawa Injung, and Customs Examiner Suresh Shetty were accused of facilitating the export of mis-declared goods described as rubber strips, which were grossly inflated in terms of weight. The declared weight of 46,600 kg was reportedly much higher than the actual weight of 6,624.35 kg per carton. Investigations showed that the goods were of such poor quality they could not even be sold as scrap. Other accused included Deepak Joshi, a partner at M.D. Shipping Agency, and Ramesh Singh Surajbux, who were allegedly involved in logistics and documentation for the shipments. The initial investigation was carried out by the Customs in 2011. The case was later handed over to the CBI. The CBI failed to provide crucial physical evidence during the trial, including original documents, seized goods, and test reports. The court noted that the prosecution relied heavily on witness statements and secondary evidence, none of which were sufficiently corroborated. Kachhi, one of the businessmen, spent a year in custody before being released in January 2024. Defence counsel Anand Sachwani said that the accused were not part of any conspiracy and that key documents were either misplaced or never seized properly. . Gurmeet Singh Kohli, the alleged mastermind of the fraudulent documentation, passed away before the trial. The defence also contended that Customs officials did not physically inspect the goods, instead relying only on carton markings. Additionally, no evidence was presented to show that samples of the goods were tested or analysed by accredited laboratories.